Thing 1: Intelligent lighting refers to stage lighting that has automated abilities beyond those of traditional, stationary illumination. In the right hands, using DMX programming, intelligent lighting can produce incredibly sophisticated effects that give your show the stamp of a cutting-edge professional.

Thing 2: Intelligent lighting isn’t as smart as it thinks it is. Just ask DMX guru Ben Stowe, president of NLFX Professional; we did...

PO: Ben: DMX lighting is complicated and costly. Go...

Stowe: I have a friend who uses DMX to program his coffeepot; you can buy a DMX-controlled light now for $30-$40.00; the barriers are gone. Today anyone can easily program a show, or have someone program it for them, that is choreographed to perfectly capture the emotions of the music -- the lights drop when they’re supposed to drop; the colors change to reflect the mood we’re evoking; that’s what stage lighting is all about: It’s about fully experiencing the music.

PO: And you don’t need a degree to do that?

Stowe: Have you ever thought about what you’re doing when you drive a car? You’re driving a device that weights thousands of pounds at tremendous rates of speed, but do you really need an intimate knowledge of an internal combustion engine to do it? Same thing: DMX makes the complex simple.

PO: How simple?

Stowe: I see it at every seminar I host: Once you give people a basic understanding of how DMX interconnects and how the software relays information to the lights, they can’t believe that’s all there is to it. The software does all the heavy lifting.

PO: You’ve produced a DVD that distills intelligent lighting down to its basics...

Stowe: We have, with the emphasis on lighting. We want to help people understand what lighting really is. We start out with an interview with a psychologist and a physiologist about the nature of lighting – how it makes us feel, how it affects our mood and behavior; there’s lots of great information in that first chapter alone. We also talk with a variety of experts about the physical properties of light, color temperature scale, RGB color mixing, marketing, and hit on some tips and tricks for effective light design --

PO: Which is what it all boils down to, doesn’t it? Good lighting design...

Stowe: That’s the creative side of it, yes. And we certainly cover that with real-world advice from experts like lighting designer Barry Nelson. In essence, what we’re providing with our DVD are the tools to unleash your creativity.

PO: All for $29.00? Small price to pay before you drop hundreds or even thousands on a light show...

Stowe: Yes. You can go to ProAcademySeries.com and from there you can follow a link to the various vendors who offer our DVD.

PO: Can we call on you for future geekery?

Stowe: Sure. But you don’t need to know that there’s a start bit and a two stop bits and eleven data bits or that there’s a 200 millivolt difference between a 0 and a 1. You want red, you click on red; the computer does the rest. The important thing is to dive in and see what DMX can do for you.

Ben is the founder and President of NLFX Professional, a leading supplier of sound, lighting and video systems. He holds a Minnesota electrical license, and his AV installs have been featured in numerous trade magazines. His passion for education led to many certifications and accreditations, including the widely-recognized InfoComm CTS. Ben created the ProAcademy educational sessions, which focus on understanding of AV technologies. He has done numerous technical writings, lectures, presentations, as well as research and development assistance with a number of manufacturers. Ben is also a regular contributor to industry magazines in the United States and Europe. These presentations led to the production of the ProAcademy Series of DVDs. Ben can be reached at ben@nlfxpro.com. SERIOUS inquiries only, please

Got requests? Your feedback on what video content you need for your venue/events is not only appreciated but very important to our programmers. Please email us at Throwbacks@PromoOnly.com to request older material and at VideoRequests@PromoOnly.com for newer releases you feel are relevant.

For more information on our Hot Video Classics and Specialty dvds, call 407-331-3600 or click here to email Customer Service today!

The Traktor Kontrol S4 DJ ControllerBetter integration. Better performance.
Critics have already been quick to dismiss the new Traktor Kontrol S4 as NI’s answer to Serato’s ITCH, which is true enough; but not the whole truth.

The Kontrol S4 is a 4-channel controller, designed to professional specs; but that’s where the similarities end. Unlike other controllers, the S4 comes with dedicated software that includes the full feature-set of Traktor Pro, making for air-tight integration that brings the S4 more in line with something like the Pioneer CDJ. The S4 also offers a built-in sound card, based on NI’s most excellent Audio 4DJ, placing it another notch above its MIDI-only brethren.

The big deal here is the easy access the S4 provides to its groundbreaking sample deck and loop recorder, which clearly takes performance DJing to an entirely new level.
Seeing is believing...

Features at a glance...

Highly integrated 4-deck TRAKTOR controller and flagship software, all built by the same team

There are those artists who inspire the DJ community. And there is Stevie Nicks, the voice that launched a thousand remixes.

Stephanie Nicks was born May 26, 1948, in Phoenix, AZ. The granddaughter of a frustrated country singer, she began performing at the age of four, singing at the tavern owned by her parents. Nicks began writing songs in her mid-teens, and joined her first group while attending high school in California. During her senior year, Nicks met fellow student Lindsey Buckingham, with whom she formed the band Fritz. Between 1968 and 1971, the group became a popular attraction on the West Coast music scene, opening for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Ultimately, tensions arose over the attention paid to Nicks' pouty allure, and Fritz disbanded. Buckingham remained her partner, however, and soon became her lover as well.

After moving to Los Angeles, the duo recorded their 1973 debut LP, Buckingham Nicks. Despite a cover which featured the couple nude (or perhaps because of it), the album flopped; it did, however, catch the attention of Fleetwood Mac, who invited Buckingham and Nicks to join their ranks in 1974. In short order, the revitalized group’s LP Fleetwood Mac topped the charts in 1975; its follow-up, 1977's Rumours, sold over 17 million copies and stood for some years as the best-selling album of all time.

A quick Google search shows Nick’s-penned hits Dreams, Rhiannon, Gypsy, Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (a duet with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Leather and Lace (a duet with Don Henley), Edge of Seventeen(Just Like the White Winged Dove),Stand Back, and Talk to Me continue to inspire an armada of remixers today, including such luminary DJ/producers as Deep Dish, Dave Aude, Dean Coleman, Morgan Page, and Tracy Young, all of whom have added a touch of their brush to her work.

Which brings us to this month’s icon throw-down...

Are You Ready to Take Stevie Nicks for a Spin?

We’d like to hear your Stevie Nicks remix.

What’s in it for you? Well, exposure to be sure (we’ll be plugging your name and mix in our January 2011 eNewsletter) and the bragging rights that go with topping our list of entries.

Our winning remixer will also take home a full year of CD or DVD service plus one Specialty DVD (may we suggest a copy of Promo Only Remixes*?) to Promo Only, free...

Entries must be submitted no later than Friday, December 17, 2010. Submissions must be original remixes and can be submitted as MP3, AAC, WAV, or M4A to promo@promoonly.com

And be sure to check out our personal favorite, the Tracy Takes You Home Mixshow version of Stand Back, as featured on PO Remixes*, by clicking here.

Game on.

Stuff our lawyers make us say:No subscription is required to enter the Take Stevie for a Spin Contest. Contest ends 12/17/2010. Winner(s) will be announced on or after 1/15/2011. Promo Only and its subsidiaries are not responsible for incomplete, lost, late, scrambled or misdirected entries or other errors of any kind whether human, mechanical or electronic. Promo Only Inc. reserves the right to cancel or modify the contest if fraud destroys its integrity, at our sole discretion. All entries become the property of Promo Only Inc. and will not be returned or distributed. Acceptance of prize offered constitutes permission to use winner’s name and/or likeness for purposes of advertising, worldwide in perpetuity, without future compensation, unless prohibited by law. All submissions must be original remixes. All participants must have FUN preparing them.

Contrary to what you might think, school dance organizers don’t spend hours on end searching the Internet for the perfect DJ...

According to Matt Ryan, Pro Mobile DJs’ expert on this subject, “The organizer for dances and proms is usually a teacher, and planning takes place during the workday. Direct mail is one of the best tools mobile disc jockeys can use to market their services, and reach the decision maker at schools.”

Intro Edits

Luminair is a revolutionary DMX lighting control software that allows you to wirelessly control lighting fixtures, dimmers, consoles, and media servers all via Wi-Fi connection. Luminair works by transmitting and receiving DMX data using the Art-Net protocol, so it's out-of-the-box compatible with lots of existing gear on the market and works great for controlling color-mixable LED fixtures, studio lighting, moving lights, and any other DMX enabled equipment.

Tricked-out features include...

An eye-catching user interface and powerful touch-optimized controls that take you through every step of the application.

Wide-fader controls

Large trigger buttons

X/Y controls with accelerometer support

And easy touch-based channel assignment

Use Luminair as your ultimate remote tool, for advanced architectural lighting, or simply as the centerpiece of your DMX lighting rig.